Merlin's Final Bow

Merlin

             
           
                While I will admit to veering into geeky cool pop culture more often to not, there are some shows that are on the edge of what I like. Merlin, a show mostly unheard of by mainstream culture, has managed to keep me watching for four seasons despite occasional cheese and repetition.  This coming year, the fifth and final season of the BBC production will be released stateside.  Chronicling the early adventures of Prince and ultimate King Arthur and his servant Merlin, the show celebrates the legend while also adding fresh characterizations and relationships.  In this version of the tale, magic is outlawed under penalty of death, forcing Merlin to often play the simpleton servant while actually saving everyone from chaos and death.  The highlight of the show is Arthur and Merlin's deep, sometimes ridiculous bond as they survive King and court.  If you are into weekly adventures that mix a dash of campy fun with surprising deep moments, catch the first four seasons of Merlin on Netflix, then see Merlin's final bow on Syfy January 4, 2012.

It's Elementary

Joan Watson and Sherlock Holmes: Elementary

          CBS's new hour long drama Elementary has all the elements of good television.  Starring Jonny Lee Miller as a modern Sherlock Holmes who uses his genius to solve crimes and Lucy Liu as Joan Watson, his sobriety partner, Elementary places the two character in present day New York.  The series premiered Thursday, with a good (not great) episode.  Miller played Holmes with an interesting mix of neurosis and charisma.  His chemistry with Lucy Liu was intriguing.  When he interrupts Watson at an Opera, refusing to be quiet until she acknowledges him, I saw a flash of the unique potential friendship/codependency.
           
              That was just it though.  I saw potential.  The actual mystery wasn't very interesting.  It never invested me in the crime or the characters like BBC's truly masterful modern spin on Sherlock's tales entitled quite simply Sherlock  and starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character.  I really like Sherlock's stories, and really want to like Elementary.  If however, the crimes grow too...well, CBS procedural, I may not stick around.  The premiere did tantalize a backstory about something going terribly wrong in London, causing Sherlock to relocate and spiral into addiction.  If the show delves into that very interesting backstory and raids from the classic Sherlock mysteries and character, I will absolutely watch it, enjoying it as a different spin on a truly mysterious and wonderful man.  For now, Sherlock is still my favorite version, but I'm willing to cheat on it.  That is, if Miller gets a better scarf.  Seriously.  What do you call that pattern?  Rainbow plaid?

Downton Abbey Plays Dirty

Downton Abbey Season 3

               If you have avoided Downton Abbey thus far, I am equal parts impressed and sad for you.  The brilliant British import about the twisted lives of the wealthy Crawley family and their servants hooked me last year when I marathoned through the first and second season.  Set in the 1910's and 20's, the series capitalizes on escapism drama with a heart.  Fans don't casually watch it.  They LOVE it and make an event of it when it finally makes its way across the pond to America.  Here's my problem.  Season three debuts in Great Britain Sept. 16th.  It doesn't come to America (via PBS) until January 2012.  In the age of the internet, it is sheer stupidity to not air shows in the same time frame.  Downton should take a cue from Doctor Who, a British show which now airs on BBC America on the same approximate day as in England.  I love Downton Abbey, which makes it all the crueler that I know England has it first, and for four months.  I feel the same way about Sherlock, another British import that airs months late in America. As a British television lover, I just think it's dirty.  Check on the new trailer for season three here.  The trailer features music from the choir used on The Social Network trailers.

Copper: Not Your Grandma's Crime Show

          I get bored easily with procedural shows. I'm not saying crime shows and medicals shows aren't sometimes great television, it's just that it takes a special show with a unique premise and great characters to really keep my attention.  Even shows I used to love like House or Bones lose me when they feel repetitive.
         BBC America is banking on its new show Copper to be an original crime drama.  With easy parallels to Gangs of New York, Copper follows an Irish detective in the mid 1800's New York, with all the crime and drama that ensues during the boom of immigration.

       The trailer looks promising, and the concept of a crime show without modern technology sounds just original enough to be good. As long as the characters are well built and there is a larger story arc than a crime-a-week, I will certainly give the show a chance. The series comes out Aug 19.  See the trailer here.

Sherlocked

Sherlock: The Clear Winner

         
            Sherlock has made a comeback in a big way.  Then again, to have a comeback, you have to have left, and Sherlock Holmes has never really been off the minds of his fans since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first created the crime solving agent for good.  The man has inspired countless movies, shows, and books. With a new show cleverly titled Elementary and set in modern day New York City in the works for the new television season, Sherlock has also dominated the big screen with Robert Downey Junior's sleuth.  Elementary stars Johnny Lee Miller as the famed detective and Lucy Liu (an egad female!) as Joan Watson.  It isn't the first time the stories and characters of Sherlock Holmes' world have been changed.  House, which recently closed its curtains, focused on the Sherlock-like relationship between House and his best and arguably only friend Wilson.  The real question is, is there room for Elementary, when a truly masterful Sherlock is on bbc and pbs?  Benedict Cumberbatch plays Holmes with acidic power in the Steven Moffat run and aptly named Sherlock, with Martin Freeman (Bilbo in the upcoming Hobbit movies) playing his war veteran best friend Watson.  The show is set in modern London, and has become an international hit with its two short, three episode seasons.  The show honors traditions and arch-enemies like Moriaty while adding new flavor and hightened humor and danger.  In short, it is my favorite of the giant Sherlock empire.  I appreciate the Sherlock movies, and can get sucked into an occasional episode of House, but Sherlock sticks and stands out above the rest.  Perhaps Elementary's saving grace will be that it will be a normal, multi-episode show, whereas Sherlock runs more as a mini-series.  I, like others who love Sherlock Holmes, will at least give it a good objective chance.  Like a parent who has another kid, Sherlock fans will just have to let their hearts make room for another version of their favorite detective.  Unlike a parent with another kid, if Elementary stinks, the fans can say goodbye.

Doctor Who?

         
       Doctor Who was not a love at first watching for me.  I watched the 2005 season's first few episodes, and was left confused and not overly committed to it.  However, BBC-America played a more recent episode featuring Matt Smith as the Doctor, and I found myself utterly hooked.  It featured Weeping Angels, creatures who were frozen whenever looked on by a living thing, but deadly killers if you even blinked your eyes.  With renewed interest, I set to watching the reboot of 2005 featuring Chris Eccleston as the Doctor, a powerful and ancient timelord who travels through time and space to help the humanity he so desperately wants to be a part of, befriended humans and fighting off creatures along the way.  It is both big and epic and  simple and silly all at once.  

        One of the key features of Doctor Who, and one of the reasons it has been around in England for fifty years, is because of its ability to regenerate.  The Doctor regenerates into different men, always staying fundamentally himself.  This allows for new actors to play him in new and delightful ways.  David Tennant took over in 2006, becoming the much beloved 10th Doctor.  He brought energy and heart to the role, allowing the Doctor to fall in love with his traveling companion and face an ultimate sacrifice with dignity and soul.  When Matt Smith became the 11th Doctor, there was concern he wouldn't live up to Tennant's performance.  However, Smith created a beloved nutty professor of a Doctor whose thoughts, actions, power, and love can't be contained.  Instead, they spill out of him in clumsy abandon.  Steven Moffat, who also runs the BBC's Sherlock, stands at the helm of the show, writing multiple episodes and creating a universe bigger than the Doctor.  
       Children and adults love Doctor Who in Great Britain.  The love has grown in America as well, with thousands flocking to Comic Con to catch a glimpse of Matt Smith and his human companions.  If you are a Doctor Who newbie, I'd recommend starting with Season 5 of the reboot, which is when Matt Smith takes over as the Doctor.  It is rather self-contained and easy to pick up from there.  If you become hooked, go back to Eccleston and Tennant, or even further back.  The Doctor travels through space and time in the Tardis, a spaceship shaped like an old-school police box.  It is, as the show loves to point out, "bigger on the inside."  I'd argue that the show itself is much, much bigger on the inside.
      Check out the trailer for Season 5 here.